As oil prices soar, so will demands for atomic energy. Iran knows this and Americans should, too. Why it's time to rethink the global approach to nuclear proliferation.
WEB-EXCLUSIVE COMMENTARY
By Christopher Dickey
Newsweek
Updated: 3:27 p.m. ET Sept. 23, 2005
Sept. 23, 2005 - Acts of God are on everyone's mind just now. They're forcing mass evacuations, inundating cities, driving up the cost of gasoline, weakening the economy, undermining the war effort in Iraq. The Almighty is so often on the tongue of politicians these days, both American and foreign, that invocations of the divine have started to sound like little more than boilerplate. Of course, over the years, few politicians have called on God more often or more automatically than the leaders in the Islamic Republic of Iran.
So when Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad spoke to the United Nations last Saturday, it shouldn't have surprised anybody that his language was fit for a Revolutionary Guard revival meeting. Peace and tranquility depend on "justice and spirituality," he kept saying. "Faith will prove to be the solution to many of today's problems." You might hear the same pieties from our own zealous politicos. But here's the problem: on the question of nuclear proliferation—a very big question indeed—Iran's fundamentalists seem to have a clearer sense of fundamental realities that ours do....
For more: Newsweek.com.
"It shouldn't take an act of God to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons, or even an act of war. Good diplomacy, and attention to the real concerns of other countries, could be and should be enough."
ReplyDeleteI couldn’t agree more Chris. But I do have some issues with Ahmadinejad’s long-term independence argument. Sure Iran has a right to civilian nuclear program and Of course under a democratic, law-abiding government in Iran, nuclear technology would never pose as a threat. But Iran’s current regime has shown time and time again that it can’t be trusted. As Chicago Tribune argued in August, “any country seeking to develop a peaceful nuclear power program would have eagerly jumped at the offer made recently to Iran by three European powers and backed by the U.S.” Why did Tehran’s regime reject the offer? In fact, With Iran’s vast terrorist network in Iraq, Lebanon and the Palestinian territories and given the fact that some of the most notorious military and security figures now have full control over Iran’s government, how could the world’s common sense allow the Islamic regime to independently control the entire cycle of nuclear fuel production and ultimately enrich uranium at its own discretion? As I have also argued in my blog before, Tehran’s behavior so far has every bit shown—as some of its high-ranking officials, such as Revolutionary Guard Major-General Rahim Safavi, have also stated—that it eventually seeks its survival in the nuclear technology and ultimately nuclear weapons.
Lets worry about those who have N.bomb-Israel:will she blackmail the US Govt. to keep 2BillionUS$$ pipeline open(grants) so it could expand its nightclubs and lavishness amidst poor Palestinians.When US citizen need to rebuild their home damaged by the Almighty- Israel keep taking money for nuclear reasons.
ReplyDeleteNo freakin doubt we gotta get off of this fossile fuel kick, and ElBaradei is one effective humanitarian with a good idea. Much as I fear anything nuclear from proliferating around...
ReplyDeleteI have to admit I was kinda hoping for a genius to develop tidal generators, but my head's always up in the clouds.